ASH Daily News for 11 July 2008

Illegal cigarettes seized by customs

More than half a million illegal cigarettes have been seized from a home in Harlow. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) officers visited the house on the edge of the town on Friday July 4 and found the counterfeit cigarettes. The stockpile, thought to be worth £87,350, originated from China and was meant to be sold in Essex.

A man was arrested and charged and has been released on bail pending further enquiries. Maddy Ratnett from HMRC said: "Anyone who may think they are getting a bargain might not realise this illegal trade damages honest businesses in the area, costs billions in lost revenue and lines the pockets of criminals instead of funding public services.So if you are tempted to buy cheap smuggled cigarettes remember that you are funding crime."

If you know of anyone selling cheap or duty free cigarettes and tobacco from their house or work or seen large quantities of cigarettes being unloaded contact the HMRC's new information line, in confidence, on 0800 59 5000. 

Source: The Harlow Herald 10 July 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/oXSQZ

Hospital brings in talking signposts to stop smokers breaking fag ban

Talking signposts are being introduced at a hospital to stop visitors flouting its smoking ban.Smokers at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire are lighting up outside wards where lung disease patients are gasping for clean air. Nurses have had to shut entrance doors on hot days to stop the fumes drifting over people's beds .

Now the new-style signposts are being considered for the site's four main entrances to warn people that smoking is outlawed throughout the site including the grounds and open-air car parks. A pilot scheme will start in the next few weeks at one of the locations which are the accident and emergency department, maternity unit, central outpatients complex and surgical department. The idea has already been adopted at NHS facilities elsewhere in the Midlands but the trust's blanket ban goes further than many other hospitals which allow people to smoke in shelters placed more than 15 metres from buildings.

Besides the loudspeaker warnings, which have yet to be costed, other signs have been improved and staff will do more to refer patients and their relatives to smoking cessation courses to help in the fight against North Staffordshire's biggest preventable cause of death. The move emerged as the daughter of a patient with severe chest illness called on the public to "show more social responsibility" and refrain from the habit until they have left the Hartshill complex. Linda Foxley, of Audlem, has already approached the hospital's health and safety experts who told her that while disciplinary action can be taken against staff breaking the policy, it was harder to enforce among the public as the national law covers only enclosed spaces.

The area's smoking cessation service is on 0800 0850928.  

Source: The Sentinel 10 July 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/X8BYU 

Blackpool's smoking rebel loses by-election deposit

BLACKPOOL landlord and anti-smoking ban campaigner Hamish Howitt lost his deposit as David Davis swept to an easy victory in the Haltemprice and Howden by-election. Freedom 4 Choice candidate Mr Howitt's 91 votes saw him finish 13th out of the 25 candidates in the East Yorkshire constituency in a controversial poll called after former shadow home secretary Mr Davis quite the House of Commons over extending detention for terror suspects.

[Note: Mr Howitt secured 0.5% of the vote and was beaten by David Icke.]

Source: The Blackpool Gazette 11 July 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/zeg0z

Smokeless tobacco use by south Asian youth in the UK

The problem of the easy availability and increasing use of smokeless tobacco products by young people of south Asian origin in the UK needs to be urgently addressed. Legislation exists, but is often flouted with the consequence that these products, which are associated with significantly increased risk of oropharyngeal cancers in young people,1 are available for as little as £0·20.

Cancer of the oropharynx constitutes one of the ten commonest cancers in the world. Important causal agents include the alkaloid content of the habit-forming betel nut (areca)—commonly known as supari among south Asians—and tobacco, whether smoked in cigarettes, bidis, or through a hookah or chewed as gutka or paan.2

Gutka is made up of tobacco, betel-nut fragments, fennel, and other spices, and is marketed in attractive colourful sachets that are appealing to children (figure). The recent addition of chocolate-flavoured ingredients may further enhance this appeal. Gutka can be bought by young people from “corner shops” in many UK inner cities for only a few pence.3 

Source: The Lancet 12 July 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/4x27l